Project title: Public policies and political competition – energy transition, migration and
affordable housing (Javne politike i političko natjecanje – energetska tranzicija,
migracije i dostupno stanovanje), Acronym: JP2N-EMS (FPZG-IP-10)

Thematical area of the project: Political science
Duration of the project: 48 months (start date: 10/2025 – end date: 09/2029)
Total cost: 80.000,00 EUR (100 % EU contribution NextGenerationEU)

Principle investigator (PI): Full professor Andrija Henjak

Research team members:
Assistant professor Anka Kekez Koštro (FPZG)
Associate professor Marko Grdešić (FPZG)
Karlo Kralj, PhD (FPZG)
Bartul Vuksan-Ćusa, PhD candidate (FPZG)
Ana Budimir, PhD candidate (FPZG)

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
Changes in the social and economic context in Croatia and the EU related to environmental
sustainability, climate change and energy transition, migration and the difficulty of affordable
housing have an impact on patterns of political mobilization and competition, i.e. the emergence
of new socio-structural cleavages, and reflect the need to create public policies that can ensure
the successful adaptation of society to new circumstances and preserve the legitimacy of the
democratic order.
The project will analyse how the processes of energy transition, migration and affordable
housing affect political mobilization and political competition in Croatia, how citizens perceive
public policies on these issues and their effectiveness, and which public policies they would be
willing to support and under what conditions. Furthermore, the project will determine how the
governance of the energy transition based on cooperation between public, private and non-
governmental actors at the local level affect the effectiveness of policies and the attitude of the
actors involved towards climate change and energy transition. The project will also explore the
assumptions for the establishment and sustainability of such models in a context like Croatia,

where there are no optimal organizational, institutional and material resources for their
implementation.
Therefore, the project will conduct a survey on the public's attitude towards climate change,
migration and affordable housing, the perception of public policies towards these issues, and the
way in which socio-economic factors, costs and benefits, values, attitudes and political identities
influence citizens' attitudes towards these issues and related public policies.
The project will also conduct an experimental survey on panel data that will examine citizens'
attitudes towards alternative public policy models towards energy transition, migration and
affordable housing.
Finally, the project will also conduct qualitative research on forms of collaborative governance
involving public, private and civil society actors through interviews and focus groups, in order to
identify mechanisms by which functional cooperation is achieved and maintained in the Croatian
context in which there are no optimal institutional, organizational and material conditions for the
establishment of collaborative governance.

Contact: Full professor Andrija Henjak (andrija.henjak@fpzg.hr)